The Original Dragonspire
My dream game has always been an experience where you play as a hero on a epic journey into a perilous world where the price for failure was the death of your character and the end of your quest. To me such and experience takes away all the hand holding and really makes you feel like your on the actual journey and it's no longer just some game.
My first attempt at this was Dragonspire (the original). It did not succeed because I was young on the game design scene and had much to learn about development. I began working on it right after college thinking I was prepared for such a project, I wasn't. Since then I stuck to the modding scene and developed several projects most notably being "The Second Tiberium War" and "Masterwind". Both of these projects over the span of ten years taught me many skills and lessons on how to develop a game project and pace myself with media, updates, and game design.
Recently I had moved out the city and back to the more rural area I used to live in and felt it was time for me to return to the game I so loved to make. Here is a look at the first Dragonspire and how much I've improved since those days:
Trailer
Here is the game trailer I had made using Adobe Premier which at the time was crashing and failing during the rendering. I got it to work eventually but was not easy.
Overworld
The game was designed in an open world format but used a top down map where each level was a single room the width of the screen and was either North-South or East-West. It did not turn out as well as I'd hoped but was not a bad idea at the time.
Graphics
To save time and effort I used a 12x12 tile format which cut down on graphics work but did reduce the overall detail. I did manage to pull off quite a bit of detail with those reduced tiles now that I look at it. 
World
The world consisted of seven regions each having their own themes and captured a dull and forgotten feel.
Character
The main character had the ability to change stances to run or fight and upgraded his gear each region he completed by looting a chest at the end of the main dungeon. The appearance of the character did change but all at once, you could not pick up individual pieces such as the new Dragonspire will be.
Abilities
Each region had an ability you can acquire such as immunity or fire blast to aid you on your quest. Only one ability would be available per screen (or room) so choosing the best one to progress was up to you.
End Result
I worked on the game for about 1 year and then burnt myself out and quit, which is a common situation for new artists and game developers. One must learn to pace oneself and takes years to master. Though the game failed as my first attempt I did not give up on it. After working on other projects such as "The Second Tiberium War" I was able to learn many skills and refine myself in the hopes to one day return and finish the my dream game "Dragonspire".
Looks sooooo good! I hope to see it succeed - can't wait to play!
Thank you, I would also like to say that this is the first preview of Dragonspire and there is a lot more to come. Each week I will be posting an update/news post and some videos in the near future.